


This Isn't Brother Complex

by notquiteintoxicated



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 14:24:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1821661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteintoxicated/pseuds/notquiteintoxicated
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Akiteru sat up straight and clenched his fists. Forget about his initial plans of leaving Kei’s match as discreetly as he had arrived; Akiteru will have words with Kei and that spiky-haired overly-familiar friend of his at the end of this match.</i> </p><p>--<br/>In which there are misunderstandings because Kuroo is actually a troll and Akiteru laments losing his precious baby brother to one spiky haired brat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Isn't Brother Complex

**Author's Note:**

> based on this [post](http://ruritto.tumblr.com/post/88633822581/what-i-need-right-now-is-kuroo-bonus-bokuto-and) by ruritto
> 
> CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT TSUKISHIMA'S BROTHER

On a scale of one to ten, Tsukishima’s desire to have his own personal cheering squad lay somewhere between negative one hundred and fuck no. Too bad, unlike Akaashi, Kuroo and Bokuto apparently didn’t get the memo.

“OOOH! YEAH! NICE BLOCK, TSUKKI!” Bokuto hollered from the bleachers and, wow, how loud could he actually be if Tsukishima could hear him all the way from there?

“Whoa! What a perfectly executed block! That’s my Tsukki!” Came Kuroo’s voice. He wasn’t as loud as Bokuto but Tsukishima could tell that the entire court (or at least the entire Karasuno team) heard him anyway, if the sniggers Tanaka and Nishinoya were desperately trying (but failing) to hide were any indication.

“Since when did I become his ‘Tsukki,’ anyway?” Tsukishima muttered under his breath. He has never been one to get easily embarrassed but Kuroo and Bokuto’s antics were really testing his resilience. For a moment, he even considered just letting the opponent’s spikes through so he could get the two to stop cheering for him when he made a block. He decided against it in the end though because failing to block the opponent would most likely end up with Kuroo berating him for his incompetence and Bokuto smugly declaring something along the lines of ‘Tsukki’s blocking skills have declined now that he no longer practices against my spikes!’ and that would be several times worse than the cheering. Instead, Tsukishima resigned himself to internally praying for Kuroo and Bokuto to either shut up or get dragged outside the gymnasium by Akaashi.

“I didn’t know you had such a…  _close_   _relationship_  with Nekoma’s captain,” Sawamura suddenly said.

Normally, Tsukishima would take such a statement as a neutral observation on the part of Sawamura but, this time, he could swear he saw the hint of a grin on the other’s face, which, you know, wasn’t amusing at all because this was their  _team captain_ , otherwise known as ‘the last person who could possibly imply clandestine relations between volleyball acquaintances while in the middle of an all-important match.’

“We’re not  _that_  close,” Tsukishima said, “He and Bokuto-san just kind of forced me into practicing spikes and blocks with them during the training camp in Tokyo and now they think I’m their understudy, or something like that.”

“Hmm, I see.” Sawamura nodded thoughtfully but didn’t say anything more.

Tsukishima could almost taste the thick suspicion laced with their captain’s words but decided not to press the issue; even he knew which can of worms he shouldn’t open, after all. “Is that all, Captain?” he asked instead, hoping to end the conversation.

“Ah, yeah. Now, let’s focus back on the match.”

#

Akiteru distinctly remembered Kei’s words,  _‘For the love of all that is good, Oniisan, don’t even think about going to any of my games,’_  but, as was the case with older brothers, Akiteru didn’t really have any obligation to listen to him.

Besides, Akiteru could hardly call himself a ‘Tsukishima’ if he didn’t disregard other people’s wishes once in a while in favor of doing whatever the heck he wanted, so in complete and utter dismissal of Kei’s request, after many years, Akiteru once again found himself in the bleachers during one of Karasuno’s matches – this time not as a club member who failed to get one of the coveted regular spots but as a proud older brother rooting for his younger sibling and, honestly, Akiteru quite liked this new role.

“OOOH! YEAH! NICE BLOCK, TSUKKI!” One of the guys in the audience – a kid who looked to be in his teens with weird white and gray hair and for some reason reminded Akiteru of a horned owl – called out when Kei blocked one of the opponents’ attacks.

Akiteru had noticed that Horned Owl Kid and his friends had been cheering for Kei since the beginning of the match and had come to the conclusion that these kids were Kei’s friends, which was a pleasant surprise since Kei had never been the friendly type (the only friend of Kei’s that Akiteru remembered was that one freckled kid with the hair antenna), especially not with what appeared to be an excitable group of teens.

Although, Akiteru couldn’t really blame Horned Owl Kid for being excited because that  _was_ , indeed, an impressive block by Kei. In fact, the only thing stopping Akiteru from standing up and shouting ‘That’s my brother!’ was the fact that Kei would probably hate him to the ends of the earth and back if he actually did such a thing.

“Whoa! What a perfectly executed block! That’s my Tsukki!” One of the other guys with Horned Owl Kid said. This time, it was the tall one with the hair that sticked out in what seemed to be a hundred different directions and, seriously, what was it with teenagers’ hairstyles these days?

Weird hairstyles aside, though, Akiteru was glad that Kei had such good friends who made it a point to watch his match and cheered for him so enthusiasti– _wait a damn minute_.

 _Did I just hear one of those kids call_ my _baby brother_ his _Tsukki?_

Akiteru sat up straight and clenched his fists. Forget about his initial plans of leaving Kei’s match as discreetly as he had arrived; Akiteru will have words with Kei and that spiky-haired overly-familiar friend of his at the end of this match.

#

The match ended with a 25-19, 25-21 win for Karasuno and, at that point, Tsukishima could say with all sincerity that he has never been so happy to see a match point being scored by the freaky quick strike duo. As much as Tsukishima thought that Kageyama and Hinata were absolute idiots with volleyballs for brains, they still did him a favor when their combination scored that final point and ended the match. Finally, the torture of hearing Kuroo and Bokuto cheer for him will end and Tsukishima could go home…

…or so he thought.

The second the Karasuno team stepped off the court, Bokuto came barreling towards Tsukishima and forcefully patted the latter’s back. “WHOO! TSUKKI! THAT WAS AWESOME! CONGRATS!” Bokuto practically yelled into Tsukishima’s ear.

“Congratulations. It was a great match,” Akaashi said as he and Kuroo appeared after Bokuto.

“Thanks, Bokuto-san, Akaashi-san. Although, Bokuto-san, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from any attempts to knock my lungs off next time you want to congratulate me for something.”

“Aw, come on! Don’t be like that, Tsukki!” Kuroo slung an arm around Tsukishima’s shoulders, “We’re just proud of you! You could even say I’m  _doubly_  proud of you because  _I’m_  the one who taught you those awesome blocks!”

“You did give me some blocking tips, Kuroo-san, but try not to hog all the credit,” Tsukishima deadpanned, “ _I_  was the one who did the actual blocking in the match, after all.”

“Why, you little!” Kuroo moved his arm so that it was wrapped around Tsukishima’s neck and gave the latter a noogie. “You dare sass at me after I, the glorious Kuroo-sama, taught you everything I know!”

Even from the awkward angle his head was currently forced into, Tsukishima saw Akaashi (the traitor) beat a tactical retreat and drag Bokuto away from the scene to ‘congratulate Sawamura and the rest of the Karasuno team.’

Left to his own devices, Tsukishima tried to get Kuroo to release him. “U-ugh, Kuroo-san, s-stop that,” he struggled to say.

“Not until you apologize to Kuroo-sama and beg for his forgiveness!”

“R-referring to yourself in third p-person is totally lame, Kuroo- _san_.”

“What! And here I was even about to give some heartfelt speech about how proud I am to see my Tsukki finally grow into an acceptably good blocker!”

“S-since when did I e-even become  _your_  Tsukki?!”

“You’re MY protégé!”

“Y-you actually know s-such words, Kuroo-san?”

“Now, you’re really asking for it, you snotty little–”

“Excuse me, would you mind letting go of my brother?”

#

Tsukishima Akiteru was an adult. He wasn’t  _that_  old yet but he liked to think that he had a more rational disposition compared to teenagers, which was why he didn’t particularly like the fact that he was getting irrationally angry at the sight of his younger brother roughhousing with the spiky-haired brat from before.

Akiteru was still rational enough to recognize that he was acting like an overprotective older brother with a complex but he couldn’t quite help it. For one, Kei had always been a reserved and relatively matured kid and he never roughhoused with any boys his age. The only person who ever got to see Kei’s playful side was Akiteru, so who,  _who_ , was this spiky-haired kid who got to give Kei a noogie without Kei putting up much of a fight and even referred to Kei as  _his Tsukki_?

Akiteru imagined that this was how a father might feel when his daughter comes home to introduce the man she’s going to marry. It wasn’t jealousy; it was more like the horrifying realization that you may have been replaced.

_No, snap out of it, Akiteru! Pull yourself together! Nobody’s getting replaced here!_

That’s right. He was just imagining things. Maybe this kid was just one of those touchy-feely guys; even he had friends like that. Akiteru knew what he had to do then. He was just going to go over there, congratulate Kei for their win, and ask Kei to introduce him to his friend. After all, his brother’s friends are also his friends, right?

Having made up his mind, Akiteru made his way to where the spiky-haired kid currently held his younger brother in a headlock.

“Excuse me, would you mind letting go of my brother?”

#

Kuroo must have been shocked enough by the sudden appearance of the stranger that he slackened his hold on Tsukishima, allowing the latter to finally wrench free.

Tsukishima made a show of dusting invisible dirt off his shoulders and turned to address the newcomer, whose voice he already recognized. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Oniisan.”

“Well, I could hardly tell you I was going to see your game after you explicitly told me not to, right?” Akiteru smiled and shot a look at Kuroo’s direction. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Kei?”

“He’s not actually–” Tsukishima began to say but was immediately cut off by Kuroo stepping in between him and his brother.

“Name’s Kuroo Tetsurou,” Kuroo said with that shit-eating grin of his that Tsukishima just wanted to  _wipe_  off his face, “Nice to meet you, Oniisan.” 

Akiteru promptly lost his smile at the mention of the word  _‘oniisan’_  and for some reason Tsukishima felt as though the temperature around the three of them just dropped a few degrees. He may or may not have also imagined electric sparks surrounding his brother and Kuroo. What the heck.

“Nice to meet you too, Kuroo. So, how long have you been friends with Kei?”

“We met during a practice game. We haven’t known each other for very long but we really hit it off during a joint training camp in Tokyo due to our shared passion for volleyball and area of specialization. Blocking, that is,” Kuroo replied with ease, seemingly oblivious to the thinly-veiled animosity emanating from Akiteru, “I guess you could say I’m kind of his mentor.”

 _We hit it off? Shared passion for volleyball? He’s my mentor?_  BLATANT. LIES.

“Kuroo-san, are you okay?” Tsukishima said, “You sound as if you’re delirious. You’re spouting nonsense.”

Kuroo clapped a hand against Tsukishima’s back in response. “Aw, don’t be shy, Tsukki! He’s your brother! He should know about us!” he said before turning to Akiteru, “Don’t mind him, Oniisan, he just gets really shy sometimes.”

Tsukishima felt like he was about to pop a vein in irritation. “Kuroo-san, if you put it like that, Oniisan might–”

“The two of you, huh?” Akiteru said. Tsukishima thought he looked like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry, or maybe just punch Kuroo in the face. Meanwhile, Kuroo looked like he just accomplished some amazing feat and was extremely proud of himself. Tsukishima was a hundred percent sure that there has been a huge misunderstanding on the part of his brother and Kuroo was doing  _absolutely nothing_  to correct it. Come to think of it, Kuroo may have been actually trying to invite the misunderstanding in the first place.

“Oniisan, I think your–” Tsukishima was cut off by his brother raising a hand in front of him in the universal gesture for ‘stop right there’ and, really, people should stop being rude and quit interrupting him when he’s trying to say something.

“Sorry, Kei, I think I need time to wrap my head around this,” Akiteru said, “I’ll be heading home first.”

And with that, Akiteru left without waiting for Tsukishima’s response, muttering something that vaguely sounded like  _‘this can’t be… how can my baby brother grow up so fast…’_

Tsukishima let out a sigh. He was too tired to deal with this but he figured he would have to give his brother a long explanation when he got home. In the mean time, though, he had a mischievous cat to deal with.

“Oh, Kuroo-san, I think we need to talk…”

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted from [tumblr](http://notquiteintoxicated.tumblr.com/post/89447208555/this-isnt-brother-complex)
> 
> EDIT: I only remembered after reading this again that Kuroo and Tsukishima actually met during the first Karasuno-Nekoma practice game which happened waaaay before the joint training camp in Tokyo. Dammit. I already corrected the error but feel free to throw bricks at me. OTL


End file.
